LIBRARY OF CONGRE 



013 744 691 1 



E 713 
.fl87 
Copy 1 



The Cost of War and Warfare, 



FROM 1898 TO 1902, .^ 



Inclusive, \ '^ 



SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS 

4 



$700,000,000. /> 



A<^ 



(Sixth Edition, iooo Each.) 




STATEMENT COMPILED, COMPUTED AND PROVED FROM THE 
OFFICIAL REPORTS OF THE GOVERNMENT, 

BY 

EDWARD ATKINSON, LL. D., Ph. D., 

BROOKLINE, MASS., U. S. A. 
July 4, 1902. 



^ 



&1? 



A 



^1 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

The cost of the first edition of this treatise, looo copies, has been paid 
from a balance of the contributions to the Anti-Imperialist. Copies may be 
ordered in multiples of one hundred, at $4.00 per hundred, to be sent by express, 
c. o. D. 

Copies will be wrapped, stamped and mailed on mailing lists supplied at 
six cents each. 

Contributions will be applied to mailing any number of copies on mailing 
lists now on hand, at the rate of six cents each. 

Address, 

EDWARD ATKINSON, 

Box 112, Boston, Mass. 
P. 

D. of St. 



PREFACE. 



L^ 



I have been requested by several Senators and Representatives of both political parties, and 
also by many women of standing and influence, to prepare a plain statement of the economic 
aspect of the war with Spain for the liberation of Cuba and of the warfare in the Philippine 
Islands after the treaty of peace with Spain, since which date no war in any legal sense has 
existed, as a war requires a declaration by act of Congress. 

It is difficult for one who regards the warfare in the Philippine Islands, with its necessarv 
brutality, devastation, disease and death, with utter abhorrence, to make a clear, cold analysis 
of its cost ; but in treating the economic aspect of the case any appeal to sentiment would be 
out of place. Again, it may be held that one viewing the case as I do would have more 
influence if he presented the facts in terms of millions and if he did not show how small the 
burden had been at the end and how easily and almost unconsciously it had been met. To 
forbear stating all the facts would not be consistent with the dutv of an economist of any repute. 

I have therefore struck out many paragraphs which formed a part of the first draft, changed 
the title first chosen, and have presented a simple statement in a form which any one conversant 
with the right method of making an analysis from the trial balance of a merchant or manufact- 
urer will readily comprehend. 

Suffice it that in eight years, from 1898 to 1905, we shall have spent on war and warfare 
a sum which, could it have been so applied, would have paid off the whole interest-bearing debt 
of the United States in the same period. 

The war is ended and the warfare has ceased. The temporary aberration toward milita- 
rism is becoming obnoxious to men of both political parties. One lesson may have been learned 
from the evils which we are now surmounting, viz., the enormous power of this nation to meet 
extraordinary expenditures of great magnitude by a few simple taxes on luxuries or articles of 
voluntary use : and by a simple system of stamp taxes costing but little for the collection as 
far removed from a tax on the consumption of the masses of the people as any tax can be. 

The next great question will be the re-adjustment of our whole revenue system ; the 
removal of taxes now imposed upon materials of foreign origin which are necessary in the 
processes of domestic industry ; the promotion of the export of our surplus product by treaties 
of real reciprocity unhampered by the efforts of the few to pervert the power of public taxa- 
tion to purposes of private gain. 

This compilation maj' open the way to such legislation and then the vision of a country 
free from debt, lightly taxed, Opening the doors to commerce in the East as well as elsewhere 
by setting an example of the open door at home, may perhaps affect the imagination which is 
the most potent factor in the conduct of commerce and industry of every kind. 

With this hope I present the facts and figures herewith given, inviting criticism and sugges- 
tion, so that in the subsequent editions which may possibly be called for, now that the public 
mind is turned in this direction, no error may be undetected and no erroneous inference may be 
derived from this analysis of the Government accounts. 

EDWARD ATKINSON. 

Bri okline, Mass., July 4, 1902. 



ANALYSIS OF THE EXPENDITURES OF THE 

June 30, 1878, to June 



PRESIDENTS. 


1 
Year. 


Population. 


Expenditures. 


Per 
Capita. 


Civil. 


Per 
Capita. 


c 


1878 


47.398,000 


$236,964,326 


$4.98 


$57,806,984 


$1.21 


Hayes . . . . ^ 


1879 
1880 


48,866,000 
50,155-783 


266,947,883 
267,642,957 


5-46 
5-34 


70,947,663 
63,455.207 


1-45 
1.27 




1881 
1882 


51,816,000 


260,712,887 


5-02 


71,991.736 


1.40 




198,235,783 


$1,032,268,053 


$5 21 


$264,201,590 


$1 33 


f 


52,495,000 


$257,9''^i,439 


$4.89 


$66,956,499 


$1.27 


Arthur. . . . < 


1883 
1884 


53.693.000 
54,911,000 


265,408,137 
244,126,244 


4.90 
4-39 


76,040,605 
77.396.434 


1.40 
1.40 




1885 
1886 


56,148,000 


260,226,935 


4-65 


94,046,754 


1.70 




217,247,000 


$1,027,742,755 


$473 


$314,440,292 


$1-45 


r 


57,404,000 


$242,483,138 


$4-23 


$80,206,088 


$1.40 


Cleveland . . . - 


1887 
1888 


58,680,000 
59,974,000 


267,932,179 
259.653,958 


4-55 
4-33 


91,459,348 
79.111.569 


1-57 
1.32 




1889 
1890 


61,289,000 


281,996,615 


4-59 


87,556,272 


1.42 




237,347,000 


$1,052,065,890 


$4-43 


?338,333,277 


$1-43 




62,622,250 


$297,736,486 


$4-75 


$88,111,303 


$1.40 


Harrison . . . < 


1891 
1892 


63,844,000 
65,086,000 


355,372,684 
345.023,330 


5-57 
530 


118,575.637 
108,197,087 


1.86 
1.66 


I 


1893 
1894 


66,349,000 


383,477,955 


5 74 


114,308,577 


1.72 




257,901,250 


$1,381,610,455 


$5-36 


$429,192,604 


$1.66 


r 


67,632,000 


^367,525,280 


$5-44 


$109,574,172 


$1-63 


Cleveland . . . < 


189s 
1896 


68,934,000 

70,254,000 


356,195-298 
352,179,446 


5" 
5.01 


100,715,600 
96,858,608 


1.41 
1.38 




1897 
1898 


7 1,592,000 


365,774,159 


5-II 


101,642,783 


1.42 




278,412,000 


$1,441,674,183 


l$5.i8 


$408,791,163 


$1.48 


20 years 


1,189,143,033 


?5.935-36i,336 


$5 00 


$1,754,958,926 


$1.48 




72,947,000 


$443,368,582 


$6.08 


105,190,905 


$1-45 




1899 


74,318,000 


605,072,180 


8.14 


129,030,226 


1-73 


McKinley . . . . 


1900 


76,303,387 


487,713,792 


1 6.39 


112,647,602 


1.48 




1901 


77,647,000 


509,967,353 


6.57 


i 129,821,527 


1.68 




301,215,387 


$2,046,121,907 


$6.80 


$476,690,260 


j $1-59 


Roosevelt . 


1902 


79,003,000 


$471,209,642 


5.96 


^123,537, 726 


1 1-55 


S years 


380,283,387 


$2,517,331,549 


?6.6i 


$600,227,986 


$1.58 


Peace and War 25 years 


1,569,426,420 


$8,452,692,885 


$5-39 


$2,355,186,912 


$1.50 

1 
1 



UNITED STATES FOR TWENTY-FIVE FISCAL YEARS, 
30, 1902, inclusive. 



War. 


Per 
Capita. 


Navy. 


Per 
Capita. 


Interest. 


Per 
Capita. 


Pensions. 


Per 
Capita. 


$32,154,148 
40,425,661 
38,116,916 
40,466,460 


$1.68 

•83 
•77 
.78 


Si7>36s.3oo 
15.125,127 
13.536,085 
15,686,671 


$0 36 

■31 

.27 

•3° 


$102,500,875 

«°5'327.949 

95.757.575 

82,508,741 


?2.l6 
2.'5 

1.89 

^•59 


$27,137,019 

35. '21,483 
56,777.174 
50,059,279 


$0.57 

.72 

1. 14 

•95 


S151.163.185 So. 77 


$61,713,183 $0.31 


$386,095,140 $1.95 $169,094,955 


Jo.85 



>2i4.ooi.826 ?o.77 



$123,825,939 $0.44 



?i3i.995,575 fo-47 



?.8go.227,752 ,$075 



$93,889,770 


S'-3i 


$59,250,482 


$0.83 


^37.585.056 


$0.47 


3^'47. 452,369 


, $2.02 


232.395.365 


3^i2 


64.354,735 


.87 


39,896,925 


•54 


'39.394,929 


1.88 


137.650,329 


1.80 


56,378,312 


•74 


40,160,233 


•52 


140,877,316 


1.85 


147.493,921 


I. go 


60,985,304 


.78 


32,342,979 


.42 


I39-323.62-' 


'•79 


$611,429,385 


$2.04 


$240,968,823 


$0.80 


$149,985,133 


$050 


$567,048,236 


$1.89 


1 12,216,683 


1.42 


67,858,590 


.86 


29,108,083 


•37 


138,488,560 


. 1.74 



$723,646,068 $1.90 



$308,827,423 $0.80 



$179,093,276 $047 



$1,613,873,820 $1.03 



^43,570.494 


•83 


^'5.032,046 


$0.29 


$71,077,207 


f'-35 


61,345. '93 


$1.17 


48,9 ",383 


.90 


15,283,437 


.28 


59,160,139 


1. 10 


66,012,573 


'•23 


39,429,603 


•72 


17,292,601 


•31 


54,578,378 


.98 


55,429,228 


1. 00 


42,670,578 


•74 


16,021,080 


•29 


51,386,256 


•92 


56,102,267 


1. 00 


$174,552,058 


$o.£o 


$63,629,164 


$0.29 


$236,201,980 


$1.09 


$238,889,261 


$1.10 


^34,324,'S3 


$0.60 


$13,907,888 


$0.24 


$50,580,145 


$0.90 


$63,454,864 


$1.10 


38,561,026 


•67 


15. '4', 127 


.27 


47-74i,577 


.82 


75,029,101 


1.21 


38,522,436 


.64 


16,926,437 


.23 


44,715,007 


•75 


80,288,509 


1-34 


44,435.27' 


•72 


21,378,809 


•35 


41,001,484 


.66 


87,624.779 


1-43 


$155,842,886 


$0.66 


$67,354,261 


$0.24 


$184,038,213 


$0.80 


$306,397,253 


$1.30 


$44,582,838 


$0.72 


$22,006,206 


$0.36 


$36,099,284 


$0.57 


$106,936,855 


$1.70 


48,720,065 


•75 


26,113,896 


.41 


37.547, '35 


.60 


124,415.951 


1-95 


49,310,405 


•76 


29.554,679 


•45 


23,378,116 


•36 


'34,583,043 


2.07 


52,024,489 


•78 


30,522,939 


.46 


27,264,392 


.41 


'59,357,558 


2.40 


$194,037,797 


50.76 


$108,197,720 


$0 42 


$124,288,927 


50.48 


$525,293,407 


$? 04 


$56,841,759 


$0.84 


$32,090,658 


$0.47 


$27,841,406 


.$0.41 


$141,177,285 


$2.09 


53,898,370 


.78 


29,208,069 


.42 


30,978,030 


•45 


141,395,229 


2.05 


52,947,075 


•75 


27,554,733 


•39 


35.385.029 


•5° 


139.434,001 


1.99 


50,314,622 


•70 


34,972,479 


• 49 


37,791, "o 


•53 


i4i,o53.'65 


1 97 



?563,059,68o $2 02 



$424,720,267 $0.35 $1,062,619,835 50.90 51802,734,556 $1.52 



?705-536.796 $186 



$733,547,690 , $0.46 



$1,241,713,111 $0.80 



$2,508,271,352 $1.60 



ANALYSIS OF THE EXPENDITURES OF THE UNITED STATES FOR 

AND FIVE YEARS OF WAR FOR THE LIBERATION OF CUBA 

ISLANDS IN THE EFFORT TO DEPRIVE THEM OF 

OF WAR AND WARFARE HAS, TO 



PRESIDENTS. 


Year. 


Population. 


Expenditures. 


Per 
Capita. 


Civil. 


Per 
Capita. 


Population for each term of fnuryears com- 
puted in one number as the divisor for the 
agijregate expenditure of that term. 

Hayes . . . . | 
Arthur . . . -j 
Cleveland ... 1 
Harrison . . . -j 
Cleveland . . . -j 


1878 
1881 

1882 
1885 

1886 
1889 

1890 
1893 

1894 
1897 

1898 
igoi 

1902 

1898 
1902 


j- 198.235,783 

V 217,247,000 
1" 237,347,000 
[ 257,901,250 

^ 278,412,000 


$1,032,268,053 
1,027,742,755 
1,052,065,890 
1,381,610,455 
1,441,674.183 


$5.21 
4-73 
4-43 
5-36 

5..8 


$264,201,590 
314,440,292 

338,333-277 
429,192,604 
408,791,163 


$1-33 
1-45 
1-43 
1.66 

1.48 


Peace, 20 years 


1,189,143,033 55-935,361,336 


$500 


$i.754-958-926 51.48 


McKinley . . . j 
Roosevelt 


[ 301,215,387 
79,003,000 


;J2, 046,12 1,907 
47 1,209,642 


$6.80 
5-96 


$476,690,260 
123,537-726 


$'-59 
1-55 


War and Warfare, 5 years | 


j- 380,218,387 

Paid, under 


2^2,517.331-549 
Spanish Treaty, 


$6.67 


$600,227,986 

(deduct) 20,000,000 


?i-58 

.07 




$580,227,986 


$1-51 



COMPARISON OF PER CAPITA EXPENDITURES. 





All Expendi- 
tures. 


Civil. 


Army. 


Navy. 


Interest. 


Pensions. 


1878 to 1897, 20 years Peace 
1898 to igo2, 5 years War . 


$5.00 
6.67 


$1.48 
■•53 


$°-75 
1-95 


$o-35 
.86 


$1.90 
■47 


$2.42 
2-33 


Variation, 1898 to 1902 


+ $1-67 


+ $0.05 


+ 51.20 


+ 50.51 


— $0.43 


— $0.09 



Excess of cost of War and Warfare over normal rates of Peace computed at $2.50 per head year by year 



These differences computed on the population 



w^ I li 



TWENTY YEARS OF PEACE, ORDER AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS, 
AND OF WARFARE UPON THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE 
THEIR LIBERTY, WITH A PROOF THAT THE COST 
JUNE 30, 1902, EXCEEDED $700,000,000. 



/\rmy. 


Per 
Capita. 


Navy. 


Per 
Capita. 


Interest. 


Per 
Capita. 


Pensions. 


Per 
Capita. 


Per Cap , 
Pensions 
and Int. 


$i5(, 163,185 


$0.77 


$61,713,183 


$0.31 


$386,095,140 


$1.95 


$169,094,955 


$0.85 


$2.80 


i74.5S2,o58 


.80 


63,629,164 


.29 


236,201,980 


1.09 


238,889,261 


1.10 


2.19 


155.842,886 


.66 


67,354,261 


.24 


184,038,213 


.80 


306,397,253 


1.30 


2.10 


194.637.797 


.76 


108,197,720 


.42 


124,288,927 


.48 


525,293,407 


2.04 


2.52 


2 14,001,826 


•77 


'23-825,939 


.44 


131.99s. 575 


•47 


563.059.680 


2.02 2.49 

1 


$890,227,752 


$0.75 


5424,720,267 


$035 


51,062,619,835 


$0.90 


$1,802,734,556 


$1.52 $2.42 


$611,429,385 


$2.04 


$240,968,833 


$0.80 


$149,985,193 


$0.50 


$567,048,236 


$1.89 


$2.39 


1 12,216,683 


1.42 


67,858,590 


.88 


29,108,083 


•37 


138,488,560 


1.74 


2.1 I 


$723,646,068 


ji.go 


$308,827,423 


$0.86 


S179-093.276 


$o^47 


$705,536,796 


$1.86 


$2.33 


(add) 20,coo,ooo 


•07 
















$743,646,068 


$1-97 





COMPARISON OF FIVE YEARS OF WAR ON THE NORMAL RATE OF $2.50 PER HEAD 
IN TIME OF PEACE WITH INTERESTS AND PENSIONS ACTUAL. 





i8gS 


1899 


1900 


igoi 


igo2 


Normal Cost, Gov't 
Pensions and Int. 


$2.50 
2.49 


$2.50 
2.42 


$2^50 

2-37 


$2-5° 
2.2 I 


$2.50 
2.1 1 


Estimated, Normal 
Actual 


$4-99 
6.08 


$4.92 

8.14 


$487 
6-39 


$4-71 
6.57 


$4.61 
596 


■ 


+ $ 1 •'^9 


+ $3-22 


+ $1.52 


+ $..86 


+ $1-35 



of each year amount to $705,575,170. (See te.\t, page 14.) 



THE war with Spain for the hberation of Cuba was entered upon from patriotic motives and 
may have been inevitable. It was lawfully declared by Congress and was marked b\- few of 
the necessar}^ barbarities of warfare. The destruction of the two sections of the Spanish navy 
marked the change in naval warfare in which, while the admiral or commander of the tleet has 
the opportunity to display judgment and courage, yet in the actual attack he must of necessity 
become the subordinate of the engineers who work the machinery. In neither engagement 
was there any equal contest, onl}' an example that the men behind the guns must not onl)' 
have the courage which is a common attribute, but the greatest technical skill and practice in 
the w^orking of complex mechanism. In fact, in the engagements the Spaniards showed the 
high courage of their race in a hopeless struggle to meet the superior skill and mechanism of 
their opponents. 

The warfare in the Philippine Islands has never become a lawful war, which can only be 
declared by act of Congress. The inhabitants, having refused to be sold by Spain, who at the 
time of sale had been wholly deprived of all power over them by their own resistance, have 
made an effort to establish their independence. President McKinley. even before the ratifica- 
tion of the treaty with Spain, opened an attack upon them which has been continued under the 
pretext of putting down an insurrection. 

In the course of this warfare the necessary barbarity of warfare which modern science has 
forced upon armies in active service has been exposed in the most conspicuous manner. 

In the publicity given to these atrocities it has been alleged that an attack had been made 
upon the army as a whole. No such attacks have been made by the opponents of the policy 
of the administration. The onh' reflection of an adverse kind has been made by the President 
in asserting his power to review the verdicts of courts martial. But even he has been sometimes 
compelled to justify verdicts of acquittal in cases where the acts committed have shocked the 
whole nation, but which he finds to be within the rules which of necessity im.part barbarity to 
modern warfare, which General Brooke also justifies. All these minor atrocities in the actual 
conduct of the warfare in the Philippines are the necessary sequence from the major atrocity of 
attempting to deprive the people of the Philippine Islands of their independence by force of arms. 

In the subsequent statement I have, therefore, applied the methods of an expert accountant 
to measuring the cost. 

COST OF WAR AND WARFARE. 

I have begun this analysis of the accounts of the Government with the year 1878, tlie sub- 
sequent period covering twenty years of peace and five years of war and warfare, to June 30, 
1902, inclusive. 

Specie payment on a gold basis was resumed January i, 1879, '-"•''^ ^^^^ depreciation of the 
greenback had nearly ceased in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878. The statistics of the 
Government and all other price or cost statistics between June 30, 1877, and the enactment of 
the legal-tender act of 1861—62 are vitiated for an}- purpose of scientific comparison through the 
varying depreciation of the currency in which the accounts were kept. 

The invention of an automatic method of tying a knot in the twine binder which is attached 
to the grain harvester — an invention wliich was perfected between 1S70 and 1S75 — enabled the 
grain-growers of the West to increase the wheat crop in a huge measure, diminishing the cost 
and dispensing with the service of laborers previously required, to the number of five or six to 
every harvester, to bind the shocks of wheat by hand. 



The huge increase in the product of wheat developed bj- this simple invention was exported 
in the next few years prior to January i, 1879, to the value of one hundred and eighty million 
dollars ($180,000,000), leaving more than an ample supply for home consumption. In return 
for this increased export of wheat, the tide of gold set this way and we imported almost the 
exact amount of the value of the wheat in gold, one hundred and eighty million dollars 
($180,000,000), on which basis specie payments were resumed. On this basis this analysis of 
expenditures has been made. 

It is my purpose to state and to prove the cost measured in terms of money, of war and 
warfare from 1898 to 1902 inclusive. The period of twenty years, from 1878 to 1897 inclusive, 
covers five administrations ; three of the completed terms were Republican and two were 
Democratic, which may be held to establish a rule of cost in time of peace. 

The terms of the several administrations have ended March 4th, while the fiscal years end 
June 30th, but the overlap is negligible. For all purposes of comparison the expenditures 
from March 4th to June 30th are under the appropriations of the Congress ending March 4th, 
and the effect of a change in administration does not appear until later. 

It is held that in this analysis the fer cafita method, which is in many cases deceptive, is 
in tliis case the onlv suitable one. The expenditures of the Government must of necessity increase 
in the aggregate with the growth of population, but whether one Administration or one Congress 
has been more lavish than another is a relative question which can only be decided by a com- 
putation per head of population. The greatest increase was in pensions. 

Moreover, very nearly the whole revenue of the country is derived from indirect taxation 
and is assessed upon articles of common consumption, so that a computation of expenditures 
■per capita discloses what each head of a family of five or each head of a working group of 
three or each person contributes to the support of the Government in time of peace or in time 
of war on an average of the whole country-. This average must be somewhat qualified because 
the consumption of taxed articles is greater in the North and West than in the South, where the 
colored population is numerous and very poor. 

Taxation and work are synonymous terms. It therefore follows that the cost of war in 
terms of money is the measure of so much work well spent or wasted as the war may be one in 
defence of liberty and for the establishment of rights, or one for the privation of liberty and for 
the imposition of oppressive wrongs. 

The working group of this country consists of a fraction under three, one person occupied 
for gain supporting two others as well as himself or herself. The average product of each 
person occupied for gain is approximately seven hundred dollars a year ; that is rather a large 
estimate. It follows that three persons must get their support, pay their taxes, make their con- 
tributions to savings and get their board and clothing out of what seven hundred dollars ($700) 
a year will cover. Deducting taxes, on what $225 a year will buy at retail for each person. 
It follows that, if the cost of war for five years (1898 to 1902 inclusive) has been over 

$700,000,000, 

then work equivalent to that of one million men for one year has been diverted from the pro- 
ductive pursuits of peace to the destructive pursuits of war. 

Divide this number by five and we get the work annually of two hundred thousand 
(200,000) men each year for five j'ears, during which period we may have had an average of 
one hundred thousand (ic'j,ooo) men under arms by land and sea, thus developing the common 
rule that for every man taken from productive industry into the army or navy, the work or 
product of one other man must also be diverted to the destructive purpose of war. 



lO 

This is the economic aspect of war, — justifiable for defensive purposes; criminal, brutal 
and barbarous when waged for offensive purposes or for tlie expansion of trade by conquest 
or colonization. 

Democracies are rightly opposed to standing armies. Our army had been reduced to 
twenty-five thousand (25,000) men before the Spanish war. This army was mainly on the 
frontier, doing the work of a national police. Before the Spanish war began the frontier work 
was practically ended and we had little use for an}' army. Canada has no use for a standing 
army and does not waste money upon one. Her volunteers have proved to be more effective 
soldiers in the Boer war than the regulars of the British army. During the Spanish war and 
the warfare upon the Philippine people the United States have been almost denuded of regular 
troops. Has an}' one missed them? Has any one felt less safe because there were no regular 
soldiers near? Our army is now being reduced to about sixty thousand (60,000) men, and that 
is more than we can ever need, unless we again commit "criminal aggression'" upon some weak 
State. It may be assumed, however, that a few years more must elapse before we become 
sufficiently civilized to dispense with a standing army, and as long as there are brutal nations in 
the world who are still dominated by militarism and might be insane enough to attack us, we must 
maintain a small army and a moderate navy for defensive purposes, perhaps for another 
generation. 

The subsequent table varies a little from the one which I compiled for publication in my 
pamphlets on the "Hell of War" and on "Criminal Aggression," of which 132,000 were dis- 
tributed at the cost of voluntary contributors who sent in the money. 

Since those tables were compiled, the premiums on purchase of bonds have been taken out 
of Government forms of regular expenditure, as they are not one of the normal expenditures, 
and some slight errors have been corrected. The figures of the tables have all been taken 
from the latest official data, and the computations have all been proved by a double check 
on a double entry system. 

Attention must be called to the aggregate by detail, in order to comprehend the true mean- 
ing of the tables which precede this treatise. 



Cost Per Capita of the Government by Terms of Admin 
President Hayes ..... 

1878 to 1897 1 P''^«;^"^t ^'■''^"'' 

, . ( President Cleveland .... 

mclusive \ „ . , ., 

I President Harrison ..... 

I President Cleveland .... 

Average of twenty years of peace, order and industry 



stration. 



$5.21 

4-73 
4-43 
5-36 

5-i8 



$5.00 



( President McKinlev $6.80 

i8q8 to iQ02< T-, • 1 Ti r ^ 

■' ^ I President Roosevelt ..... 5 -90 

Average of five years of war and warfare .... $6.67 



The difference is $1.67 per head, but by a subsequent table it is proved that, owing to the 
falling in of pensions and the reduction in interest, coupled with the increase of population, the 
normal rate of twenty years of $5 per head would have been lessened. The true waste of 
war, $1.84 per head, is proved by the figures subsequently given. 



II 



CLASSIFICATION OF EXPENDITURES 

CIVIL SERVICE. 

Legislative, Judicial, Public Buildings, Indians, Postal Deficiency, and Other Charges 

of Like Kind. 



1878 

to 
1892 



President Haj^es 
President Arthur 
President Cleveland . 
President Harrison 
President Cleveland . 
President McKinley ($1.58 

treaty) 
President Roosevelt . 



s 7 cents paid on Spnnisl 



Per Capita. 

$1-33 
1-45 
1-43 
1.66 
1.48 

1-51 
1-55 



It will be remarked that the variation in this element in the cost of our Government has 
been but twenty-three (23) cents per head between the lowest cost, under President Cleveland, 
and the highest cost, under President Harrison, during the whole term of twenty-five years. 




MILITARY EXPENDITURES. 

President Hayes 
President Arthur 
President Cleveland 
President Harrison 
President Cleveland 

Average of twenty years of peace, order and industry seventy- 
five cents per head ....... 

1898 f President McKinley ($2.04 plus 7 cents paid for 

to <( Philippine Islands, $20,000,000) 

1902 [ President Roosevelt ....... 

Average of five years of war and warfare .... 



$0.77 
.80 
.66 
.76 

^ 

$o-75 

$2.11 

1-4^ 

$1.97 



In dealing with this element, regard must be given to the fact that the improvements in 
rivers and harbors which, in spite of waste and jobbery, are constructive and not destructive, 
are charged to the military account. 

The amount expended for twenty years, 1878 to 1897 

inclusive, was $225,735,284 

The amount expended in five years, from 1898 to 1902 

inclusive, was ....... 90,095,010 

Total $315,820,294 

From the foregoing constructive element in the military expenditures, it appears that we 
have saved an average of nineteen cents per head each year for the last twenty-five years, 
reducing the normal military expenditures in time of peace to a relatively small tax upon the 
resources of the country, but not materially altering the comparisons. 



12 



1878 

to 

1897 




NAVAL EXPENDITURES. 

(President Ilayes 
President Arthur 
(President Cleveland . 
President Harrison 
President Cleveland . 
age of twenty years 

President McKinley . 
President Roosevelt . 

age of five years . 



$0.31 
.29 
.24 
.42 

•44 
^•35 
$0.80 



$0.86 



It must be remarked that the construction of the "new navy" (so-called) was begun in 
President Cleveland's first term, but the cost did not show until the two subsequent terms. 
Note. — For a comparison of these and other expenditures with those of other countries see Appendix. 

The difference is $1.20 on the army, 51 cents on the navy, making $1.71 per head of 
added cost, slight changes in other items reducing this sum to $1.69, as shown in the table 
covering all the items. A true adjustment bringing it to $1.84. 

E.xception may be taken to charging the excess of naval expenditure of the last five years 

to war and warfare, because a considerable part has been for the construction of naval vessels 

which are said to be capable of permanent service. The figures are not available from 1878 

to 1887. 

The amount expended for ten j'ears, 1888 to 1897 

inclusive, for the construction of naval vessels was 

approximately ....... 

For five years, 1898 to 1902 ..... 

Total, 18 cents -per head of population, 1888 to 1902 

inclusive ........ 



$108,000,000 
82,000,000 



$190,000,000 



Eighteen cents deducted from the per capila of all naval expenditures from 1888 to 1902, 
56 cents, leaves as the cost of the support of the navy from 1888 to 1902 inclusive, approxi- 
mately, 38 cents for ten years of peace and five years of war, or not over 25 cents per head 
in time of peace ; this is not a heavy charge for the protection of commerce. 

In fact, the advocate of peace who recognizes conditions as they are and who is 
not a mere non-resistant, may fully justify this small expenditure upon the navy, even 
if a considerable part of it is now being wasted upon big battle-ships which are probably 
obsolete or will be before they are completed. Service in the navy can only be entered through 
a very severe course of instruction in many branches of a very high type, which renders the 
naval service an example of what the civil service of the Government might be if candidates 
for the civil service were required to prepare themselves for their duties in the most effective 
way. 

We entered upon the Spanish war with a moderate force of armed ships under the control 
of a thoroughly-trained body of well-bred men. Moreover, the service in the navy, even of the 
waifs and strays who are recruited from the streets to man the ships, develops them on their 
long cruises and even within port they are protected from the common temptations of the city. 
They are of necessity trained in the use of mechanism of all kinds so that, if I am rightly 
informed, when discharged from the service they find little difficulty in obtaining good employ- 
ment in civil life. 



13 

Again, there are many naval officers who can find no career in the nav}', but who, of a 
progressive or inventive mind, have left the service in early or middle life and are now holding 
most important positions in the direction and control of some of our largest establishments. 
Other naval officers, finding opportunity within the service for scientific research and explora- 
tion, have added to the commercial knowledge of nations: so that, although there may be a 
considerable waste of the aggregate appropriations to the support and construction of the navy, 
it is yet justified under existing conditions and may be sustained by all reasonable advocates 
of peace. The main diliiculty will be to find engineers for naval service, which has become a 
dangerous, monotonous and underpaid branch of mechanical engineering, offering no career 
to a man of capacity. 

It may also be observed no act could so well assure the peace of the world and the progress 
of commerce than for Great Britain and the United States to neutralize the ferry-way between 
the Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States and the ports of Great Britain and Ireland, 
inviting other European States to join in the agreement, but at the same time declaring that any 
attack by the armed vessels of any other State within these neutral waters would be met by the 
armed resistance of the united navies of the English-speaking people. To this end, for the 
defense of commerce and for the maintenance of the interdependence of this and the mother- 
land all may unite. 

The three forejioins schedules constitute the normal elements of the cost of conducting 
the Government aside from interest and pensions. 

SUMMARY OF TWENTY YEARS OF PEACE. 

Total. 
2.54 

1878 to 1897, 1 ^^ig^.^i^j^^j^ J "^ .66 .2, 2.33 



:lu^ 



inclusive. 



President. 


Civil. 


Mil 


itary. 


Naval. 


Hayes, 


$1-33 


-fo.77 


^0.31 


Arthur, 


1-45 




.80 


.29 


Cleveland, 


1-43 




.66 


.24 


Harrison, 


1.66 




.76 


.42 


Cleveland, 


1.48 




•77 


•44 



2.84 

2.69 



Average . . . . $1.48 $0.75 $0.35 $2.58 

Less non-recurrent items ....... -Q^ 

Normal rate $2.50 

It will be remarked that the non-recurrent expenditure for the return of direct taxes 
assessed during the Civil War, the payment of the Geneva award, the bounties on sugar, the 
extinction of title to Indian lands which are included above, if taken out, would reduce the 
amounts, especially during the administration of President Harrison, leaving the normal cost of 
the United States Government less than two dollars and a half ($2.50) per head in time of peace. 
It is held that this computation, covering twenty years and five administrations, establishes that 
sum per capita as a rule or standard of the normal cost of the Government under normal condi- 
tions, the tendency being for population to increase rather faster than the expenditures. 

SUMMARY OF FIVE YEARS OF WAR AND WARFARE. 

President. Civil. Military. Naval. Total. 

1898 to 1902, ( McKinley, $1.54 $2.09 $0.80 $4.43 

inclusive. ( Roosevelt, 1.55 1-42 -88 3-85 

Average . . . . $1-53 $i-95 ^0.86 $4.34 

Normal rate of peace ....•••• ~-5^ 

Cost of war and warfare per head ..... .fi.84 



14 

From the next table it appears that the excess of expenditure in the last five years above 
the rule of normal rate established in the previous twenty years has been one dollar and eighty- 
four cents ($1.84) per head, computed year by year on each }'ear"s population. 

In the next three years, however, there will be a considerable diminution in the -per capita 
expenditure taken as a whole by the reduction in interest and the falling in of pensions. How 
this works the following table shows. In the first column is given the cost of civil, militarj' and 
naval services at the normal rate or rule established in twenty vears, of two dollars and a half 
($2.50) per head applied to the last five years. In the other columns are given the actual 
figures of interest and pensions. 





Civil, 
at Normal Rate. 


Interest, 
Actual. 


Pensions, 
Actual. 


Total. 


1898 


$2.50 


$0 


•47 


$2.02 


$4.99 


1899 


2.50 




•51 


1.88 


4.92 


1900 


2.50 




.52 


1.85 


4.87 


I90I 


2.50 




.42 


1.79 


4.71 


1902 


2.50 




•37 


1.74 


4.61 



When we apply these normal figures to the actual figures of war and warfare we again 
prove the cost, confirming the previous figures. 





Actual Figures. 


Normal Figures. 


Difference. 


Difference in Money. 


1898 


$6.08 


$4.99 


$1.09 


$79,512,230 


1899 


8.14 


4.92 


3.22 


239-303,960 


1900 


6-39 


4.87 


1.52 


115,980,560 


I90I 


6-57 


4.71 


1.86 


144,423,420 


1902 


5-96 


4.61 


1-35 


106,455,000 



$685,575,170 

Add payment to Spain under treaty . . . 20,000,000 

Total excess of cost of five years of war and 

warfare above the normal rate of peace, $705)575'^ 7° 

The aggregate population during the five years has numbered in round figures a fraction 
over 76,000,000 per year, aggregating 3,805,000,000, who have paid $1.84 per head, proving 
the result reached by the previous table, in round figures 

$700,000,000. 

The cost of war and warfare, justifiable or otherwise, during five years has been, — 

Per head of population ........ $9.20 

Each person occupied for gain, sustaining two others . . 27.60 

Each family of five 46.00 

Larger in the North and West, less in the South. 

Such are the facts. Each person must decide for himself how far he has been responsible 
for these conditions, what it has cost him, and what it is worth in national reputation, in political 
repute or disrepute or in national welfare or ill-fare. 

It is now plain that it will take at least the remaining years of President Roosevelt's term 
before what he rightly named "the burden" of the Philippine Islands can be removed, or before 
a Philippine government can be reorganized under the administration of President Roosevelt 
in place of the government which was destroyed by force of arms under the administration of 
President McKinley, so that the independence which President Roosevelt states to be the 



15 

objective point may be admitted and our armed forces withdrawn before the end of his term. 
In the remainder of this period of somewhat less than three years, the excess of our expendi- 
tures as compared with the normal rate will be diminished, but cannot be less in the aggregate 
than two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000), probably more, which will make the total cost 
of war and warfare in the two terms of Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, covering eight years, 

$900,000,000. 

This sum exactly corresponds to the estimates which I made in the " seditious " 
pamphlets on "The Cost of Criminal Aggression," only the sum is spread over a little longer 
term than I anticipated. 

Many Anti-Imperialists have, whenever consulted by the leaders of the Philippine people in 
their struggle for independence, counselled them to cease armed resistance and to surrender, 
trusting to the honor of the American people to restore to them their right of independence. 

While that advice has been given for their benefit, it has also been given with a view to 
restoring to the people of the United States their own independence from the rule of militarism 
and to bring the cost of their own Government back to normal conditions. 

Armed resistance has ceased, a large part of our armed forces are being withdrawn ; our 
military expenditures are being reduced and, in spite of the additions to the pension list from 
this war, the rapid falling in of the pensions of the Civil War is now reducing that item. 

A total charge of five dollars and a half ($5.50) per head, assessed on the population of 
the present fiscal vear which, June 30, 1903, will exceed eighty million (80,000,000), will 
doubtless suffice to cover all expenditures. By the end of President Roosevelt's present term, 
in 1905, the cost of all branches of the Government may be again at the normal rate of five 
dollars ($5) per head, the average from 1878 to 1897 inclusive. 

It may happen that the very large appropriations for battle-ships and other naval construc- 
tion will prevent the reduction to $5 per head so soon as the end of the term of the present 
administration ; but, as the amount of work that can be finished and paid for year by year is 
practically limited to the capacity of the ship-building works now in existence, it is not prob- 
able that the annual amounts paid before March 4, 1905, will greatly affect the /er capita 
computation. 

In the period of eight years, 1897 to 1905 inclusive, we shall have expended on war and 
warfare at least 

$900,000,000, 

and we shall have on hand a large navy consisting in large measure of battle-ships, possibly 
useless for any purpose, as the "commerce destroyers," built a few years since, are now useless 
and may no longer disgrace the navy by their mere title. 

It would probably be difficult even for an impartial accountant to make an exact separation 
of the cost of the war with Spain for the liberation of Cuba from the cost of warfare in the 
Philippine Islands and other military and naval expenditures. It is at least probable that the expen- 
ditures for the liberation of Cuba did not exceed, and were probably less, than $300,000,000 

We have already spent and wasted $400,000,000 

and shall spend and waste in all before we get through with the warfare upon 

the Philippine people not less than 600,000,000 

Total ......... $900,000,000 

Assuming that the war for the liberation of Cuba may be jusiitied, it may be interesting to 
compute what might have been done with the money wasted, or yet to be wasted, in the 
Philippine Islands, say $600,000,000 or more. 



i6 

Two hundred million dollars (:f 200,000,000) would probably have developed everv impor- 
tant harbor in the United States up to the highest point 3-et attained in engineering. 

One hundred million dollars (:f 100,000,000) would probably develop any svstem of 
irrigation of arid lands that could now be justified. 

One hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) appropriated to common schools in tlie 
Atlantic and Gulf Cotton States south of the Potomac, from Virginia to Louisiana inclusive, 
would have enabled the people of these States to build schoolhouses. These States surrendered 
to the Union their great possessions west of the Alleghanies upon the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion or since, out of which great grants have been made to the Western States by which they 
have been enabled to build schoolhouses in advance of population and to partly support the 
schools. The Cotton States have a right to demand an equal support. This act of justice yet 
remains to be done. $400,000,000 being thus disposed of. 

There would still remain two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) of the money yet to 
be wasted, out of which the insufficient salaries of the Members of the Cabinet and of the 
Justices of the National Courts might be doubled. The compensation of ambassadors and 
ministers to foreign countries might be made sufficient for them to maintain the dignity of the 
Nation without recourse to their private incomes ; they could be housed in suitable dwellings 
belonging to the Nation in each capital to which tliey are accredited. The salaries of consuls 
might be doubled, and under civil service rules men secured for permanent positions in the 
service of our expanding commerce, — and yet there would be a big sum to be applied to other 
useful purposes, such as a reduction of postage to one cent, which would at first make a deficit 
in the postal service. 

Now, let us glance at a more cheerful view of our case. 

While we have been dealing in these visionary sums of millions by the hundred, which 
conve}- little idea to any one but an expert who has a statistical imagination until reduced to so 
much per head each year (or, perhaps, it would be more fit to say so much per pocket, where 
the cost falls in the end), we must observe that a large part of the burden has been liquidated or 
dispersed in smoke. The revenue derived by the Government from liquors and tobacco for 
twenty j^ears, 1878 to 1897, amounted to two dollars and a half ($2.50) per head, thus meeting 
the cost of the Government under normal conditions aside from interest and pensions. 

Estimating some of the figures of 1902 not yet published, the total revenue from liquors 
and tobacco, domestic and foreign, for five years from 1898 to 1902, during four years of which 
period the war taxes now repealed have been in force, has been approximately 

$1360,000,000. 

This sum assessed upon the aggregate population gives $3.34 per head. The normal rate 
for the previous twenty years was a little under $2.50 per head. The difference, 84 cents per 
head, amounting to nearly half our war e.xpenditure, has to that extent liquidated the account 
through the voluntary taxes paid on beer and spirits with concomitant tobacco. 

The war taxes on liquors and tobacco, yet more unwisely the purely revenue tax collected 
by stamps have been repealed and the tax on sugar, yielding less revenue, has been maintained, 
to the oppression of Cuba and to the great obstruction to the expansion of the export of domestic 
products of agricidture, farmers being misled by the advocates of protection to beet-root sugar. 
The promoters of this forced branch of industry, having proved their ability to make beet sugar 
in free competition with the world when raising money for their work, have succeeded in 
perverting the power of public taxation to purposes of private gain by defeating every eiifort to 
relieve Cuba, even by a small concession. 



17 

They have succeeded in making somewhat less tlian 150,000 tons of beet sugar, the annual 
value of which comes to less than ten cents per head of our population, out of a total consumption 
at three dollars and a half per head. The quantit}' of beet-root sugar produced in this country 
is less than the consumption of one single establishment in making condensed milk. 

If sugar were free of duty, our commerce would expand with all sugar-producing countries 
and our agriculture would be promoted b^- our taking the paramount control of the manufacture 
of condensed milk, preserved fruits, jellies, jams and marmalades. 

The force of economic folly could no further go than the delusion of tlie farmers that it is 
for their interest to take their children out of school to thin and weed beets and to make a littlr 
petty crop, when with free sugar, there would be tenfold the market for farm products tlirough 
the supply of dairies and fruit-preserving factories with sugar at the lowest cost. 

Bad and wasteful as our own course has been, the military and naval expenditures of the 
manufacturing States of Europe, with which we mainly compete in the great commerce of the 
world, the United Kingdom, France and German}', have been even more wasteful. While our 
expenditures are now six dollars ($6) per head and will soon again be only five dollars ($5), 
the expenditures of the United Kingdom are three times as great, those of France three times 
and those of Germany double. Yet the burden upon Germany is in fact the greatest of all, 
because it is derived from a product not over one-half as large /e'r capita as our own. 

Again, in this essay I have only presented to you the figures of the revenue, $2.50 to $3.34 
per head, derived from liquors and tobacco. The average expenditure upon liquors by the people 
of this country is seventeen dollars ($17) per head, mostly for beer; for tobacco in all forms it is 
six dollars ($6). Taken together, the expenditures for liquor and tobacco come to twenty-three 
dollars ($23) per head, while our expenditures for the support of the Government last year, 
including the cost of war, were only six dollars ($6), or about one-fourth the cost of drink and 
smoke ; yet as compared to England, France and Germany, we are a very temperate people. 

We are proud of our system of education and we boast of our common schools, yet we 
apply only three dollars ($3) a head, on the average, to the support of common schools, varying 
from a minimum of less than a dollar in the Cotton States to five dollars in Massachusetts. Six 
dollars a head for tobacco and three dollars a head for schools ! Seventeen dollars a head for 
whiskey, beer and wine I five dollars a head for the support of government ! 

In fact, our very prosperity and our common waste, not only upon liquors and tobacco, 
about half of which is ill-spent, but in many other ways, prevents even the waste of warfare 
becoming so oppressive as to force a remedy. It has been through the influence of the brewers, 
the distillers and the brokers that the war taxes have been repealed, and through the influence 
of the beet-sugar makers that the sugar tax has been maintained, while the patient public pays 
the bill, grumbling in a blind way, but not yet acting, as it soon will. 

I have assumed that President Roosevelt is sincere in his declared purpose of removing 
"the burden" from our shoulders, and that the independence of the Philippine people is his 
objective point. Amnesty has been granted, a civil government framed, and it is no longer an 
act of sedition to read and discuss the declaration of independence in the Philippine Islands. 
What more remains? time will tell. If President Roosevelt's strenuous energy shall enable him to 
accomplish these declared purposes before the end of his present term, his name will pass into 
history among the greatest of the great. If such should not be his purpose, then it may take a 
little longer to lift the burden, to restore the rights of the people of the Philippine Islands and 
to re-establish the principle of liberty in the United States of America. 

EDWARD ATKINSON. 

Brookline, Mass., U. S. A., July 4, 1902. 



APPENDIX. 

Relative Taxation in the United Kingdom, France and Germany, as compared 

to the United States. 

From a similar official statement of the national expenditures of the Republic of France the 
following computations are derived for the year 1901 : — 

Per Capita. 

Population 38,600,000 

Civil and judicial service .... $116,390,696 $3-oo 

Army, navy, public works, forts, etc. . . 234,925,682 6.10 
Interest on public debt and pensions, (^)niitting 

workmen's old-age pensions . . . 257,608,381 6.67 

$608,924,759 $15.77 

Expenditures for state manufactures, subsidies 
to merchant marine, free art schools and 
to four religious cults, etc., carry the /er 
capita to over $17.00 

From an othcial statement of the expenditures of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
Ireland the following computations are derived for the year ending March 31, 1901 : — 
Population computed at .... 41,500,000 

Expenditures for civil and judicial service, 

omitting imperial taxes appropriated to 

local purposes ..... 
Army and nav}' under normal conditions 

of peace ...... 

Interest on national debt and pensions . 

Total 

The special war expenditures of the year are 
estimated at . 

Total 

In the present year this burden will be somewhat lessened ; but, by comparison with the 
United States tiscal year ending June 30, 1901, the British rate is $19.18 per head against the 
United States rate of $6.57, now also lessened. 

Having no official statement of the national expenditures of Germany and not reading 
German, I am unable to unravel the complex accounts of the German empire in the Almanac 
de Gotha. I compute them on the best information I can get at $12 per head, very largely for 
military and naval service. 

But this is no measure of the burden, as the pay in the German service is miserably insuffi- 
cient, and in the examination of German family budgets one constantly finds an item, " Support 
of son in the army." 

It will also be remarked that the burden upon our manufacturing competitors is not truly 

measured in terms of money. 





Per Capita. 


$114,457,860 


$2.76 


230,159,880 


5-54 


i34'33o,400 


3-24 


$478,948,140 


$11.54 


317,168,460 


7.64 


$806,116,600 


$19.18 



19 

$ia, in Germany, falls on a per capita product not over half our own. 
$17, in France, on a product not over three-fifths. 

$11.54 to ) in the United Kingdom in time of peace ; $17 in time of war 
$13, > on a product per capita not over three-quarters, if as much. 

The Nemesis of the rule of Blood and Iron — of Revanche — of Junkerism and Militarism, 
hangs like a pall over continental Europe, and the words "Disarm or Starve" are written upon 
the battlements on land and on the battle-ships upon the sea. 

From a more extensive study of the relative taxation for national purposes in the United 
Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, which are our chief competitors in 
supplying other parts of the world with manufactured goods, and which are also our principal 
foreio"n customers (Italy, Austria and Spain being yet worse off and Russia always on the verge of 
wide-spread famine), I have become satisfied that our advantage in immunity from taxation for 
military purposes and for the payment of interest on their huge debts incurred in previous wars 
is equivalent to at least five per cent, upon the value of our whole national product, or a sum 
between $700,000,000 and $800,000,000. In other words, we have a margin of profit of five 
per cent, on our whole product before our competitors can begin to credit profit on their product. 
Such a sum is more than the sum of all our State, county, city or town taxes imposed for the cost 
of local government. Prodigal and wasteful as we may be in some places and in some direc- 
tions, yet the whole sum per capita of Nadonal, State, county, city and town taxes in the United 
States does not exceed the average rate given above for national taxation only in the European 
states above named, which are in very largest measure expended for military purposes, or 
interest on war debts. 

The capacity of the European continent, without Russia, to support its own population 
cannot be questioned, yet more with Southern Russia and Asia Minor added ; but divided as it 
is by the prejudices of race, the diversity of language and by tariff barriers which yield less 
revenue than the cost of the armed forces necessary to maintain them, the state of Europe seems 
hopeless. Hence the urgency for the conquest of colonies and for the expansion of foreign 
commerce and exports. Hence also the fear of the industrial progress of the United States. 
Under these condidons the effort is being made to unite in a common effort to exclude imports 
from this country. Were such a union possible, what would be the effect? The cost of living 
would be enhanced, that increased cost would enter into all their goods which they now export. 
For a dme the price of our food, fibers and fabrics would be lessened, our farmers would have 
a narrower market for a time, but our ability to export manufactured goods would be augmented 
by the consequent reduction in the cost of living. 

The power of the condnental states of Europe to compete with the United States and 
Great Britain, welded together as thev would then be by their common interest and mutual 
dependence, would be wholly destroj-ed. 

So long as the armies of the continent of Europe are maintained, and the effort of the 
maridme states to create and support great navies is continued, their ability to sustain even the 
present population is diminished, and will continue to be lessened until some great socia 
revolution destroys the classes by whom militarism is maintained. 

As the slave power destroyed itself in this country, so will the military caste destroy itself 
in Europe. 

Such seem to me to be the warnings shadowed forth by even a partial study of the 

figures of comparadve taxation so far as I have been able to compute them. I commend this 

subject of the reladve burden of armies, navies, debts and taxes to all students of social and 

political science. 

EDWARD ATKINSON. 

liRoOK.i.iNE, Mass., July 4, 1902. 



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